A natural, unfinished vegetable tanned leather...such as outsoling...can be burnished by moistening the leather with water. Let it sit a moment and wipe off the excess . Let it sit another minute or a couple. Then take a polished bone or a polished piece of very fine grained hardwood such as boxwood ot some kinds of tropical rosewoods.

And then with long strokes, but not excessive pressure, rub the moist area. and continue rubbing it. And continue rubbing it. Eventually the leather will start to shine.

This is probably a little impractical on a briefcase but it works a treat on outsole where the burnishing tool is nearly as wide as the outsole and a relatively short stroke will go from one end to the other.

Putting wax on it before burnishing doesn't work or help. Wax after, not before.

--edited for punctuation and clarityEdited by DWFII - 3/12/15 at 6:08pm

Interesting, DW. I did that to heel and sole edges, and whilst the first round was simply with water and pressure, the second round, when I rub some wax dressing on, and then proceed to burnishing, it shines a lot better, and feel a lot smoother as well.

Interesting, DW. I did that to heel and sole edges, and whilst the first round was simply with water and pressure, the second round, when I rub some wax dressing on, and then proceed to burnishing, it shines a lot better, and feel a lot smoother as well.

I suspect it is the wax that is shining not the leather. Never has worked for me at any rate to use the wax as part of the burnishing procedure. Burnishing smooths and compresses the the grain surface--that's the intent, the shine is secondary. I do this on the bottoms of outsoles and on the heels stacks before and after dying but once the wax is applied, the leather itself is "occluded," in a sense. the leather can no longer be wet and the bone cannot act upon the wet leather. The wax may be said to be burnished but the leather is not.

I suspect it is the wax that is shining not the leather. Never has worked for me at any rate to use the wax as part of the burnishing procedure. Burnishing smooths and compresses the the grain surface--that's the intent, the shine is secondary. I do this on the bottoms of outsoles and on the heels stacks before and after dying but once the wax is applied, the leather itself is "occluded," in a sense. the leather can no longer be wet and the bone cannot act upon the wet leather. The wax may be said to be burnished but the leather is not.

I hear ya on this one. Still, it looks nice, though.

I tried the burnishing on my AE Shell Dundee when I cleaned it back in January. Gotta say, the result was well worth the extra work. It really shines up.

Stop using just polish. Shell can be treated just like calf, although certain specific calfskin only creams were not to be used. Use Lexol dressing, a cleaner/conditioner, a cream polish, and keep the leather well condition. You may stretch the course of maintenance schedule, but you may not forget that shell had lost all of its oil content via usage, and paste wax only worsen the matter.

And please, try not get yourself being too awfully deceived by the paste wax folklore.

Stop using just polish. Shell can be treated just like calf, although certain specific calfskin only creams were not to be used. Use Lexol dressing, a cleaner/conditioner, a cream polish, and keep the leather well condition. You may stretch the course of maintenance schedule, but you may not forget that shell had lost all of its oil content via usage, and paste wax only worsen the matter.

And please, try not get yourself being too awfully deceived by the paste wax folklore.

What kind of Saphir Crème polish, though? Because the 1925 cream for calf leather will not work with shell cordovan. The cordovan cream is what you primarily need. Otherwise, get GlenKaren cream polish because it has avery high oil content.

Renovateur will not condition as expected. It gives too much a shine rather than really condition the leather. You will need something like Lexol conditioner, where the oil content can be properly restore through high penetration into the fiber mat.